Ovib laws



0. LAWS, JR. TILTING AUTOMOBILE SCAFFOLD. APPLICATION FILED JAN. I2, 1921.

1 ,4 1 O, 1 97 Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

WT A6 FL I ii,

. I 4 47 45 #3 cl 7 8 45 796 347 15 3E 35 5 L413 L H I 4,6 44

H g INVENTOR- ovrn LAWS, an, or LOS enemas, onmronitra.

TILTING AUTOMOBILE SGAFFOLD.

Application filed January 12, i921. Serial No. 436,814..

To all 7.1: 710/11 712? may 0021mm Be it known that I, Ovro Laws, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles andState of California, have invented anew and useful Tilting Automobile Scatfold, of which the following isaspecirication. I i V This inventionu'elates to devices for putting automobiles in a position so that a mechanic can readily reach parts on the underside of such automobiles.

One of theobjec'ts of this invention is it) avoid WOI'klHgrlHplt-S when repairing parts on the underside ofautomobiles.

Another object is to make the underside and thereby all partsilocated in and near the underside o'fi'an a-utomobile easily acces SlblmtO'iL mechanic whenrepairing or examii'iing. such automobiles. 7

@Another object is to provide a tlltable driveway so" that anautomobile may be driven up to solthat the' aunderside of the-automobile is lifted enough that a mechanic -may look under i'noa convenient manner.

Another'objeot is to provide su Way and device with means for operating the driveway. i, I r

Another object is to'provide cushioning means for the movements of such a drivewa I a l y (gther objectswill appear from the followingdeseriptionand appended claims as well as. from the accompanying drawing, in whieh- -z I s Fig. 1 is a side elevationbl the device iii a position; ready'to receive anautomobile, an automobile being illustrated in dotted lines approaching the: operating mechanism for tiltingthe device,

lines. 7 r Fig: 2 is a fragmentary detail side elevatlon ofoperatingameans for the devicein slightly modified form. r Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the device. Fig. 4L is-a fragmentary detail'side' elevation of operatinglmechanisni for the device in a modified iform :for manually handling the device for the tilting operations; The track 5, illustrated in Figstl and 8, isdesigned to receive and support an automobile. In Fig. 1, an automobile is indicatedaih dotted lines at 6-withzthe wheels 7.

the driveway" and then tilted ch a drivetilting an d,

the tilted position the dev'ce being also indicated indotted" standing on the track" The track is preferably made ot two ,spaced nembers was clearly lllustrated in F igzB, both; melmbers j ointly mounted on a commonshaft fi so that both members can be evenly andequallv moved and swung l around the shaft, evens least below the; body oi -the automobile. ".lhe most ,common arrangement in use is a pitot a depth'that a person can stand u'p'- right in the .p tfbelow the automobile th be tually to, the position inc-ligated in dotted Specification of Letters Patent. i 1922 i able to look up-"towar ds the'underside of."

the automobile. Another arrangement/gal" most as popular, is a scalfold of a height that a person .citI-lfishandyonthe groundto be able to 100111111) towards the underside of an, automobile; the; automobile, being placedjion top of the scaffold;v Such scaffields are usually provided with; an inclined driveway so ,that an automobile; can be driven up to the topflofthe sca-fiold;

scaffolc l', eventually of less height,

very

often used in conjunction with} a pit, i

being insueh acase ofvlessdepth', sothat.

thegdepth of the pitg andvthe heightof the seafihld together measure up; to suchi an ex: tent that a person; can stand in qthewpit below the automobileon the scaffold inan upv right position. a

. l su h a rang m nts; W 3m iQql1i o: a person to look up towards the underside, of the automobile, andthat in a: rather/awkward, inconvenient, and tiresome'-manner to the g'person I A 1 g The device, disclosed in this 1 application, is'intende t serv o, h pe s ntmay lookiypracti-cally' in a; forward direction" towards the? parts on; the, underside ofz an automobile; The device ,isi furthemfnore de-' signed, Ito require less pit construction, since the automobile with the device. is llifted from tl'IG gIOUIlC l lll SilOll a manner as to allow'v'a person to-reach the desired parts of theauto ;,In Fig. 1, the automobile indicated} in dotted lines at 6, is illustrated with,-its rear end. towards the operating"niechanism,,;but it-Wi'll easily be understood that the automo bileean be placed entire device ina reversed mannens'o that-the vfront oomesrtowards the serve as such stop members.

[ easily be understood.

end in which the rear end is now illustrated. A pit is provided, but this pit is proportionally small, and mainly contains the operating mechanism, at least as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The shaft 8 is shown as not quite in the middle of the track members 5, butthis also may easily be modified without departing from the principle of the invention, the trackmembers, and therewith the whole de vice (even "taking an automobile into consideration) "may easily be balanced, as will When an automobile isso tilted, it must 1 naturally beheld and supported, "this is done by having a stop provided on the track the braces 12 members, the uprights 11 with F r operatingthe device by the powerof an automobile', a lever, 01' a lever on each trackmember, indicated at' 13, is provided 'swingablly engaging with the track member at 14. illustrated mounted on "a common shaft 15. Side extension ends 16, provided on theupper free ends ofthe levers 13 project over the track members into the path of the wheels of an automobile when driven-.over the track members of thisdevice. If an automobile, therefore, is driven up towards the stop 11, the wheels 7- of the automobile 6 naturally approach the levers 13 first. On

- pressing on, the levers 13 are swung in the direction towards the-stop 11. Thismotion is usedin the arrangement illustrated in Fig; 1 loy-having a mem'ber 17, preferably of'fiexible material, as a chain, cable, and

cord, attached to the levers. The flexible member 17 passesover the ro1lers'1 8. Rods or-bars 19jare engaged with the uprights 11 with one end, having their free; ends extendingdownwardly. Other rods 20 are swing-ably engagedat a stationary point in thepit as indicated at 21 havingltheir sec-- ond ends in apositionto meetthe' free ends 'of the rods 19 atthe point 22. The second end of the flexible membergis engaged at this point to' both 'rods, by a common bolt or any other similar suitable means. The

operating of the lever 13 then naturally preducesanse'ful effect on the 'joint 22. Th1s o1nt of the two rods 19 and. 20 is naturally drawn "towards the roller 18,there-' ,by practi c'ally folding the rods to the posit ion indicated at 23, the point 21 being 'statiouary and the rod19-natu1'ally causing the uprlght 11 to move in the direction towards the po'int 2lthe'reby tilting the track members. A hook member 24 is provided to hold the tilted track infthis'position as long as desirable! A flexible member25 is in engagement with the hook-member 24: hav 1ngal1andle26 fordisengaging the hook member from the tilted track. Another hook member-# 27 is provid'edl on the oppo n Fig. 3, twosuch levers 13 are.

site end of the track for holding the track in normal position until a tilting is desired. Cushion members 28, made of springs or other similar suitable material are provided to lessenshocks when tilting and operating the track device.

In Fig. 2, a modified arrangement for operating the device is illustrated to show that the operating mechanism may be varied to quite an extent without materially departing from the principle of the device.

ing the illustration in Fig. 2.; i

' A modified 'formjof operating mechanism for more conveniently and securely han dling the device by hand is illustrated in Fig. 4. A pulley, wheel, drum, sprocket wheel, or any other similar means 31 is provided on the shaft 8, connected by-the flexible member 32 with" asmaller drum or member 33, which is operated by the hand-- crank 34. Theproportions' betweenfthe. 100 rally, easily be designed so as to make a handling'with this arrangement easy ,ias will easily be understood without further illus-' trations or explanations."

member 31 and the' Inember 33ycan 'natu From the foregoingspecification and the accompanying drawingit will be cle'arthat any other vehicle may. also be handled'gon the track of this'devicej though the larger part of this specification refers more specifi cally to handling automobiles, as long as vehicles are of a size and can stand on the track.- i

type that they Having thus described invention;

1. In a. scafioldfor supporting vehicles, a"

track tiltably' mounted in the groundx'witli of the ground, a pit under one of the ends of the tilting track, th e supporting journals of. the track being located nearer the end of the track above the pit so as tocause an automatic tilting of the track to itsnorinal horizontal position, a number of connecting members between the foundation and the track having operating portions extending above the trackinto the'path of approach ing wheels of vehicles disposed on-the track, the connecting members being arranged so that a; pressing of wheels against the'opcrating portions causes a tiltingiof the con- 7 its surface normally flush with thelsu'rface nected track-end so as to drop into the pit, and locking means for holding the track in the inclined and tilted position.

2. In a scaffold for supporting vehicles, a track tiltably mounted in the ground with its surface normally flush with the surface of the ground, a pit under the track, the supporting journals oi? the track being located nearer the end of the track above the pit so as to cause an automatic tilting of the track to its normal horizontal position, a number of connecting members between the foundation and the track having operating portions extending above the track into the path of approaching Wheels of vehicles disposed on the track, the connecting members being ar ranged so that a pressing of wheels against the operating portions causes a tilting of the connected track-end so as to drop into the pit, locking means for holding the track in the inclined and tilted position, and releasing means to unlock the locking means.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

OVID LAWS, JR.

Witnesses:

OTTO H. KRUEGER, Jnssm A. MANooK. 

